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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Would You Buy A $25 Firefox OS Based Smartphone?

We've know for awhile now that Mozilla has been working on a Firefox OS based smartphone and now it looks like we have a bit more detail as to what those phones might look like and how much they might cost.

Mozilla, the company all geeks should know as the parent to the Firefox web browser, has teamed with mobile SoC maker Spreadtrum to come up with a prototype for a smartphone that costs just $25. The key to the prototype is an ultra-cheap processor from Spreadtrum, the SC6821 SoC. The chip’s predecessor, the SC8620, sells for about $1.40 in mass quantities. Meaning even if the new chip cost a bit more, a $25 device running Firefox OS would be well within reach.

For $25, Spreadtrum says you’ll be able to get a humble 3.5″ HVGA display, rear-facing camera, integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and FM radio support. Full specs aren’t being discussed yet, and that’s because they’ll be left up to the individual OEMs that actually build handsets using Firefox OS and the Spreadtrum SC6821 chip. Spreadtrum is providing the necessary internals, and Mozilla’s worked with them to ensure full hardware support within Firefox OS.

While Mozilla and Spreadtrum have said the initial goal is to bring their low cost entry level Firefox OS phones to emerging markets in developing countries they have not ruled out the option of offering them to US based carriers. So they question begs, would you be interested in the low cost phones or would you hold out for something with a bit more substance?

Personally I prefer higher end devices, which we are also starting to see with various new operating systems. For instance, Mozilla has also announced several new Higher Performance Firefox OS devices which include the ZTE Open C and Open II, Alcatel ONETOUCH Fire C, Fire E, Fire S and Fire 7 tablet, all using Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm Technologies Inc. We've also seen reports that we should expect an influx of Ubuntu based smartphones in 2014.